Texture

I love the parts of The Walker -- all of them. It has to do with negotiating so many choices: what to add, what to eliminate, what to paint, what to paint over. I got intimate with this piece. In the end, I only love the pieces. There's something fragmented about the whole. It reminds me of falling in love with the words I used to write, but not liking the final story. I'm thinking of chopping this Walker quilt into pieces.

For reference, here are the steps (those I remember -- I know I've skipped some) in making this:

1. I cut the 4 top pieces ( not the one with the words on it because I needed more time to create that fabric) out in different sky/water colors.
2. I sewed them together.
3. Then I tried to collage them. They were too limp.
4.I cut the bottom as one piece.
5. Then I gessoed the base.
6. I can't remember if I also stuck the pieced top to the muslin with half and half glue/ water. I think I did.
7. I tried to machine-baste the top to the muslin base. It was too stiff & wide to sew down the middle. It was like trying to run a sewing machine down the middle of a surfboard.
8. Then I treated each of the four (5, counting the words) pieces individually. I decorated each one, sewing, gluing, painting.
9. I made each into a quilt sandwich, with thinnest batting available & a muslin back. I free-motion quilted each.
10. Then I zig-zagged all the edges, going around each piece
11. I sewed the quilt back together, zig-zagging with invisible thread.
12. I added final paint & sand, etc.